


Chimera

by janaswow



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: A bit of Goro Takemura/V if you squint, Alternate Ending - Cyberpunk 2077, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Corpo V (Cyberpunk 2077), Cyberpunk 2077 Spoilers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gender-Neutral V (Cyberpunk 2077), Goro Takemura Needs a Hug, Mentioned Jackie Welles, Mentioned Johnny Silverhand, Multi, Reader Has A Name, Reader is Hispanic, They/Them Pronouns for V (Cyberpunk 2077), no beta we die like men, the devil ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:26:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28567683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janaswow/pseuds/janaswow
Summary: When Hanako's plan backfires and it costs V their life, Takemura seeks out an old friend of V's, desperate to find closure and freedom.
Relationships: Goro Takemura & V, Goro Takemura/Original Female Character(s), Goro Takemura/Reader, Panam Palmer/V
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

V grunted, balling one hand against their knee in pain as it took everything in them to lift themselves from up the ground. Hanako stroked the hair on her brother’s head, his head in her lap and his body slack in shame. She whispered a faint “Go” to V, not sparing them a glance as the Japanese woman had her eyes set firmly on her brother. She was speaking in Japanese to him, and V’s translator glitched, the words becoming a jumble of random letters and numbers.

With gritted teeth, V limped to the double doors leading out of Yorinobu’s office. They saw Hellman waiting, Takemura’s back facing the exit, the white suit he was wearing had specks of blood on it, a remnant from the fight they had to put up while marching through Arasaka.

V’s vision blurred the more they got closer to the exit, the ability to differentiate what was real and what was a hallucination from the relic becoming harder as the countdown of V’s time left to live dragged on. They could feel Johnny, his desperation to take control becoming overwhelming and V could feel his fists pounding against death’s door. 

As V finally walked through the double doors and past Takemura, they held a hand up to signal they were fine when Takemura’s brow was furrowed in worry. “It’s ok, I’m…” Before V could finish their sentence, they screamed as they fell towards the steel ground, a painful invasive feeling of a thousand knives stabbing into their spine being the last thing they felt before everything went black.

Takemura sprang forward, trying to cross the room and get to V as fast as he could. With a loud thud, V fell silent as their body crashed down onto the floor, their head making an audible crack that echoed across the room when it made impact with the ground. Takemura immediately felt for a pulse, his eyes desperate for hope. His throat went dry when he realized there was no pulse, no life in V’s eyes as they laid limp on the ground.

Hellman stood in shock, quickly looking over his shoulder to Hanako who was holding a shard in her hand, Yorinobu limp in her lap. His legs carried him to her, the rustling of his suit catching her attention. Cold eyes looked past the exit and to a now dead V in the arms of Takemura. Her lips set into a frown as she watched Takemura’s shoulders shake just the slightest bit. Raising a trembling hand to his earpiece, Takemura called the medical team who was on standby, ready to get to work on V and get the relic out of their head.

“V is dead.’


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I typed out the idea for this work as quick as I could while it was still fresh in my head, I hope it isn't badly written. While I loved Cyberpunk 2077, I was way too attached to Takemura and V so the endings kinda broke me lol. This ending of my own does have to do with the devil ending, but V doesn't make it past Yorinobu's capture, and Saburo does not come back. Takemura deserves the world, so this work is kinda about him becoming his own person again. Also, during Hanako and Takemura's conversation, italics = they're speaking in Japanese. Hope you enjoy! <3

**CHAPTER 1**

The sky was dark, rain clouds pouring bullets onto Night City. Takemura bowed his head in shame as he sat in his office in Night City, not having slept in two days. The funeral had been silent, all of V’s friends and companions present, but none dared to say anything. They all had a grim look; devastated by the loss of a good friend, of V.

The doctors had said the Relic had killed them. It fried their entire nervous system and turned their brain into goo before their head even managed to hit the floor. All in 5 seconds. 

5 seconds that would haunt Takemura, his mind clouded by guilt and grief, guilt at not being able to save V in time, and grief at losing one of the only people he ever trusted.

Takemura hadn’t left his room since the funeral, his mind racing as he tried to engrave every memory with V into his skull. His hands fiddled with the strange necklace that V insisted on holding onto, a bullet that Misty had wrapped in wire after Viktor pulled it out of their head. They were both at the funeral, Misty stood at the back, holding onto a tarot card. 

She had made eye contact with Takemura at one point, and she had hurriedly looked away, what looked like resentment in her eyes. Before she left, she had left the tarot card on her grave. It read ‘The Devil’.

It had grown soiled in the rain, and Takemura had thrown it away. He was drained; both emotionally and physically. He was aching to get back to Tokyo. But first, he had to go to V’s apartment, gather what all she had left, see if there was a will or any estranged family. His chest burned with shame at the thought of having to practically throw out her things, and Takemura cursed Arasaka for the fiftieth time in his head that day.

____

V’s apartment was cold and dark. The blinds were closed, closing off the rain from outside. When Takemura opened the blinds, he saw blood smeared on the glass windows, grimacing at the sight. 

Empty bottles of beer and bags of consumables were littered across the surfaces, the fridge empty as well. There was a random tank top thrown onto the couch, Takemura recognizing it as a top V wore often. He added it into the cardboard box he brought for V’s valuables. The armory was impressive, V had gone into Arasaka with most of their arsenal on them, but the sleek black katana and custom guns on display in their apartment were seemingly left behind. V’s prized stash. Takemura added it into the box. 

The sky got dark quickly, and with that the apartment was left barren quickly. V didn't have much, and what they did have didn't take long to gather. All that was left was opening a small tin box Takemura had found stuffed in the back of their closet. It had scratches all over it, the initials I.W. carved near the latch. Takemura sat down on the desk chair next to the computer, setting down the box onto the desk. 

Nervously wringing his hands together, he moved to open the latch. A bent polaroid greeted him upon opening, what looked like V having their arm around a brunette’s neck. In marker on the corner in cursive handwriting read ‘ _ From Bella, Cuidate.’  _

There were more polaroids, and Takemura wondered where V had gotten the camera from. Printed pictures were rare, most having switched to holograms and digital copies. The same brunette appeared in every picture, either posing or being caught off guard. There was one where V and the brunette were in a tattoo parlor, shoulders exposing matching tattoos of a snake and roses. Takemura had remembered seeing it when he had helped patch V up after escaping Arasaka’s assassin's. 

There were letters with the name Bella written on them, and Takemura set them aside, there were some parts of V’s life that were not morally right for him to invade. At the bottom of the tin sat a folded piece of paper, and Takemura fished it out, unfolding it and reading it in his hands. 

‘ _ Bella, I'm sorry for everything I did and didn't do. If you're reading this then you were right. This lifestyle of mine got me killed. But you'll be ok. You have Jackie. Your dad was right, I was bad for you. See you’ _

Takemura recognized V’s hasty handwriting, and saw that they had scribbled a name at the bottom. 

_ For Isabella Welles _

Recognizing the last name, Takemura closed the tin box, placing it in the box with V’s other things. He immediately sat down and got to work, going through every database he had access from to find the person from V’s letters and pictures. 

With his eyes flashing white, Takemura took one last glance at V’s now barren apartment, cardboard box with their things in hand. With his heart heavy, Takemura carefully set the large box in the back seat of his van, already on route to Arasaka HQ, V’s letter in hand. 

_____ 

When the first roar of thunder sounded in the sky, Takemura’s mind was racing, thinking of his last minute plan while he drove to Arasaka’s HQ in Night City. The rain was coming down harder, now, and with it the lightning. The neon lights everywhere reflected onto the roads, a messy rainbow of neon colors. The jazz on the radio helped sooth Takemura’s anxiety, but not by a lot. 

Parking his car, Takemura shut the engine off and looked out to Arasaka’s skyscraper. He hadn’t heard a single word from Hanako since V’s death, the news reporting on their mission and the plummeting stocks of Arasaka. Takemura neatly folded the letter and tucked it into his suit’s pocket. With one last rerun of his plan in his head, Takemura stepped out of his car and made his way to Saburo’s office. 

The building was empty, save for the receptionist and guard at the door. It was deadly silent, and felt wrong. Scanning his ID, Takemura nodded in greeting to the guard and stepped into the elevator. Pressing the button to go to the top floor, Takemura waited as the doors closed and the numbers rose on the small panel above the doors. Fixing his cuffs, Takemura folded his arms in front of him, watching the floor number of Saburo’s floor get nearer.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, showing the lobby before Saburo’s office. The lights in the room were turned off, the shoji screens that usually had a warm glow behind them dark. There were no guards, none were necessary for this floor. No one but him and Hanako were able to get up here. Letting out a shaky exhale, Takemura fixed his posture and moved to go past the double shoji screen doors. 

Upon opening, Saburo’s office was dark as well. The room was pitch black with only the Arasaka logo glowing white on one of the walls. Takemura looked towards the large desk and saw a figure hunched over in it. Moving to turn his night vision on, a flash of lightning lit up the room in a bright light. It was Hanako.

Her usual neat bun had stray hairs peeking out, her brown eyes dark and tired. She had forgone her expensive dresses in exchange for a long, white kimono. Yorinobu had a similar one, but in black. The only thing pertaining to her usual attire was her golden claws. 

Raising her head, Hanako gestured for Takemura to sit down. The thunder outside roared once more, flashes of lightning and a downpour of rain in its wake. Taking a seat in the black chair in front of the desk, Takemura spoke. 

_ “Hanako-sama.” _

_ “I know why you’re here.” _

Takemura froze, the usual elegant polite tone that Hanako used gone. Her voice was cold and lifeless, all her confidence taken from her. She stood up from her seat, moving to stand in front of the large window overlooking the city. She wrapped her kimono tighter around her, pulling her shoulders inwards. She looked weak, fragile.

“ _ My father gifted me these. Made from the finest gold known to man.”  _

Hanako lifted her hands, showing the golden claws encasing her slim fingers. She curled them into a fist, not caring that the sharp tips of her golden claws were digging into her skin, drawing blood. Takemura stood up, moving to help patch her up. She stormed over to one of the shoji screens in the office and rose her arm, bringing it down with force and watching as her claws tore through the delicate material, three jagged slashes going through the sakura trees designed onto it’s screen. 

  
  


With a pained cry, Hanako crumbled to the ground, but her eyes were dry. She refused to shed anymore tears. Takemura stood still by the desk as Hanako dragged her claws onto the ground, the once spotless marble now littered in scratch marks.

“ _ My father is dead, and with him Yorinubo’s soul. Oda is growing tired of my outbursts. My family is gone, and I am alone. And with that I am left no choice but to watch this cursed corporation burn to the ground.” _

_ “The engram..it failed?” _

_ “Yes.” _

If the old Takemura had been told this before, he would be devastated. By the loss of the man he owed his life to, and the company that had taken him in. But he felt nothing now. Arasaka was evil, and it had taken him all this time to come to terms with it. His grandmother had been right, “ _ Evil deeds do not prosper, the slow man catches up with the swift”. _

Saburo’s plan to make home in Yorinobu’s body had failed, he had been too brash and now it had cost the Emperor his life and his son's soul.

_ “Where is Yorinobu?” _

_ “Confinement. He hasn't uttered a single word, he just sits there all day and stares at the wall with lifeless eyes. The doctors have to feed him through a tube..” _

Hanako was grieving both the death of her family and the company that cost them their lives. 

_ “My father...he was greedy. Both him and Yorinobu. All they knew was fear and hatred, and it consumed them. Before Yorinobu’s soul died, he told me I was evil. That I'm a fool for doing our father's bidding, just like Kei. But that he forgives me, for I am a victim to my father. We all are.” _

For the first time in days, Hanako looked Takemura in the eye. 

“ _ You may leave Arasaka, if you wish. I have granted the same permission to Oda. Arasaka is dying, and I do not wish to prolong its collapse. My promise to Yorinobu..” _

_ “Hanako-sama…” _

_ “You were my father's puppet, Takemura. And for a while you were mine too. You needn't rotten yourself further.” _

Takemura bowed deeply, a silent thanks to the last living Arasaka for granting him his freedom. Hanako lifted herself from the floor and stood behind the desk. She lifted a framed photo of her, Yorinobu, and Saburo, but Yorinobu’s face was obscured in the portrait. Saburo’s doing. 

She waved a dismissing hand at Takemura, and with one last look over his shoulder he closed the double doors to Saburo’s office, now Hanako’s office. When the next clap of thunder came, he could hear the sound of glass shattering and Hanako’s scream of agony.

As Takemura sat in his van thinking about the life he left behind, he held the letter in his hand and ran a second background check on the name. After a few seconds, an address came up. It was a bar, a family owned one in the Heywood district. Marking the address on his gps, Takemura set the gear in drive and drove off, trying his best to not look at the disappearing building of Arasaka in the rearview mirror. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter down, and lots of angst. Takemura will meet Bella soon no worries. Oh yeah, and Hanako is losing her sanity. She was very creepy in-game, no emotion whatsoever, so sorry if her going bat shit crazy is OOC.


End file.
